Ash gourd, starfruit juice/ Boodu kumbala - daarehuli drink/ Winter melon drink

Hello there, New post after a while. Making of Ash gourd juice!

Winter melon drink


Ash gourd/ boodugumbala/Winter melon is a very healthy vegetable grown abundantly in Asian countries including India. Though this vegetable is one of the healthiest vegetables, it is hugely avoided in many regions to consume due to many misconceptions around it. In a way it is considered to be auspicious, at the same time this vegetable is banned using in shubha karyas like wedding.

This humble vegetable does not have any specific taste to describe, it is bland, absolutely comforting for the stomach. This vegetable goes best in majjige huli (buttermilk, coconut based mild curry), sambhar, dosa, and desserts such as halwa (aka. Kasha halwa) & Agra ka Petha (Ashgourd candy).

This post is dedicated to all those like ash gourd, those who doesn’t know about it and not sure if they can eat it and for all the farmers who grow this vegetable and waste them without any demand. There is a story behind this statement I made. We have a neighbour, who is a farmer; grew ash gourd and could not sell them at all. My husband bought around 50 of them directly from the farmer and delivered them to nearest Goushala , Raghavendra Gou Ashrama as there is huge demand for vegetables for the daily meals they serve to the visitors. We also kept few of them to use as well as to share to relatives.

Ash gourd/Winter melon


Today’s juice is actually a bi-product of my trial making ash gourd halwa, recipe for which will be shared soon. I also added home grown start fruit and lemon juice to enhance the taste.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 glasses

Ingredients:

Roughly chopped ash gourd pieces – ½ cup

Roughly chopped star fruits – 1 or 2

Lemon juice – 2 tsp, half of a medium lemon

Salt – to taste

Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp

Sugar/ choice of sweetener – 2 tsp (optional)

Few Mint leaves (optional)

Method:

  • Put all the ingredients together into a blender or juice jar.
  • Blend until fine.
  • Pass it through a juice strainer.
  • Pour to the serving glass, serve with added ice cubes (optional).
Boodu kumbala - daarehuli drink


Notes:

  • You can skip star fruit if you don’t have it.
  • You can add other berries like gooseberry too.
  • Better to avoid sugar if you are using it as detox drink.
  • If you are fine to have chunks of the fruit and vegetable in your juice, you need not even strain it.
  • I used ash gourd juice squeezed from the grated ash gourd for halwa making. Taking out the juice helps in speeding up the process of halwa making :). 
  • Also please note, if you are using this as medicine, please consult your health care provider.

Ash gourd, starfruit juice

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